Genetic memories resurrected from a man’s great-grandfather ignite a deadly battle of wills with a 19th Century assassin.

Simon Thomas, a UC Berkeley history professor, is the loving husband of Jan, a San Francisco attorney, and devoted father of identical twin daughters, Louise and Elizabeth. He is also the spitting image of his great-grandfather Payton Adams, an Irish immigrant steel worker who died during the bloody Homestead Works strike of 1892. On his twelfth birthday, Simon was given a photo of Payton and told that his great-grandfather was murdered by Pinkertons hired to crush the strike by steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. That night Simon awoke to what would be a recurring dream in which he experiences Payton’s death as if it were flashbacks of his own. Simon’s haunted nightmare triggers a rare form of PTSD that has grown increasingly debilitating. Neurological tests reveal Simon’s brain harbors genetic memories of Payton that must be brought forth in their entirety to avoid mental breakdown. Simon is treated with an experimental drug called “Quip” that enables him to relive Payton’s memories as if he were time-traveling back to the 19th Century. He discovers that Payton was a Fenian enforcer smuggled into this country to assassinate Carnegie. Summoning these genetic memories releases Payton’s homicidal personality, setting off a fierce internal struggle for control of Simon’s mind that endangers the lives of all he holds dear. The greatest threat is to Jan whom the Payton personality has vowed to kill from beyond the grave. Quip is a modern take on the Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde theme, a psychological thriller about a man’s love for his family and friends, and how the past shapes our present and charts our future whether we learn from it or not.

Quip is available is a Kindle version that can be downloaded for free here. It is also available in print and as an ebook in multiple outlets including Amazon and Barnes and Nobel.

An extraterrestrial demon joins with an angel and a concubine to challenge a godlike AI for the future of humankind. In 2190 CE, “trumans” – true humans – were facing the existential threat of an overcrowded, resource-depleted Earth. In response, they created CAESAR, a transcendent Artificial Intelligence to serve the greater good. CAESAR rewarded them with miraculous technologies that culminated in His establishing the Civilization, a multi-world society in which all Citizens prosper so long as the Equilibrium is sustained. The Equilibrium has been sustained through strict rules laid down by the Chamberlain, a synthetic who has guided the Civilization for more than three hundred years from CenterPoint Tower in the area once known as Yellowstone. Trumans, however, have been largely replaced by mass-produced, genetically enhanced humans called “gencers.” Now, outside of a protected “Sanctuary,” trumans are on the brink of extinction. In Chromeleon Part One, Tia Matte, a truman concubine working in the Big Sin, a notorious Red Zone on the Saturn moon of Titan, becomes pregnant after a one night stand with a transgenic demon named Risk. Risk carries the genes of chromeleons, microbes from one of Titan’s methane seas that give him supernatural powers. His child represents salvation for trumans but threatens to fatally destabilize the Equilibrium. Cassidy, a seraph angel bred through eugenics, is dispatched by the Chamberlain to bring the pregnant Tia to CenterPoint. What ensues is an odyssey that will pit Risk, Cass and Tia against murderous gangbangers, treacherous AIs, deadly mutants, cyborg enforcers, and CAESAR’s ultimate death machines. Along the way they’ll discover the ugly truths of the Civilization, and learn that the dangers of Martian dust storms and mortal combat in a virtual world, pale before the machinations of the Chamberlain and his minions who have forfeited their humanity for power, carnal pleasure and centuries-long lifespans. Risk, always wanting to know the why of things, will also come to appreciate the wisdom behind the ancient truman bromide: Be careful what you wish for.

Chromeleon Part One: A Greater Good is available in paperback from Amazon here. The eBook version can be downloaded from multiple sites including Amazon. Go here

Risk, a transgenic demon with extraterrestrial powers, Cass, a eugenic angel, and Tia, a truman concubine on the Saturn moon of Titan – challenge a godlike AI for the future of humankind. In 2190 CE, “trumans” – genetically true humans – facing the existential threat of an overcrowded, resource-depleted Earth, created CAESAR, a transcendent Artificial Intelligence to serve the greater good. Housed in an impregnable stronghold called CenterPoint Tower in what was once Yellowstone Park, CAESAR produced miraculous technologies that culminated in the creation of a multi-world Civilization in which Citizens prosper so long as the Equilibrium is sustained. For the past 300 years, the Equilibrium has been sustained under the rule of a mysterious synthetic called the Chamberlain. Trumans, however, have largely been replaced by mass-produced “gencers” – genetically-enhanced humans. Outside of a protected Sanctuary, trumans are on the brink of extinction. In Chromeleon Part One, Tia was impregnated by Risk with a daughter who represents salvation for trumans and the end of the Chamberlain’s reign. In Chromeleon Part Two, Risk meets the simulacrum of his long-dead mother in the sentient VR known as the Est. After learning the truth about CAESAR and the link between himself and the Chamberlain, he is sent on a quest to Titan to fully unleash the alien powers that will enable him to breach CenterPoint Tower. Meanwhile Cass and Tia have fled to Sanctuary where Tia gave birth to the child she names Eione. Cass fights to protect Tia and Eione from a vengeful Chamberlain, but ultimately Risk must confront the Chamberlain and CAESAR to save Eione and the women he loves. His success will disrupt the Equilibrium and save trumans from extinction, but to become a savior for the common good, Risk must also confront the truman adage that history is written by the victors.

Chromeleon Part Two: A Common Good is available in paperback or as an ebook from multiple outlets including Amazon